The present invention relates to improvements in bipolar medical coagulation instruments in general, and more particularly to improvements in instruments of the type wherein the tissue or vessels can be clamped, held and/or otherwise manipulated by the jaws of an implement which resembles or constitutes a forceps (hereinafter called forceps). Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in medical instruments of the type wherein the forceps comprises two coagulation electrodes each of which includes a jaw movable toward or away from the other jaw to thereby pinch or release a piece of tissue, a blood vessel or another part of an animal body.
It is already known to construct the jaws of a forceps in such a way that they constitute the electrodes of a bipolar coagulation instrument and to provide on the electrodes means for securing them to conductors leading to a source of high-frequency electrical energy. The jaws constitute two poles of the high-frequency circuit which can contact a piece of tissue or a vessel while the surgeon uses the forceps in the course of a microsurgical or other operation. Reference may be had, for example, to commonly owned German Pat. No. 30 12 849 which discloses a forceps with an insulating carrier for the rear ends of the legs. The legs extend rearwardly beyond the carrier and such portions of the legs constitute terminals which are connectable to the poles of a source of high-frequency electrical energy. As a rule, the connection between the energy source and the forceps comprises a receptacle for insertion of the terminals at the rear end of the forceps whereby the terminals are held in the receptacle by friction or in another more or less positive manner.
Coagulation and termination of bleeding in general surgery and orthopedics (macrosurgery) is normally effected by standard anatomic and surgical forcipes whose jaws are used to grasp and/or otherwise manipulate pieces of tissue or vessels. Such implements cannot be used for bipolar coagulation so that the surgeon is compelled to resort to monopolar coagulation with attendant undesirable results. Thus, monopolar coagulation entails the danger that it can propagate itself deeper from as well as laterally of the neutral electrode which can result in destruction of or lesser damage to the vessels and nerve cords around the locus of coagulation.
Since the work of a surgeon must be completed as rapidly as possible, it is necessary to design the forcipes in such a way that they can be used for grasping of tissue as well as for preparation and (if necessary) monopolar coagulation. Such work is seldom performed by conventional bipolar coagulation forcipes which, as a rule, are not used in general surgery and orthopedics. One of the reasons is that a bipolar coagulation forceps of conventional design must be attached to conductors which connect it with a source of high-frequency electrical energy, and such conductors interfere with manipulation of the forceps in general surgery and/or orthopedics. The surgeon normally employs a conventional forceps to engage a vessel in order to interrupt the bleeding and, in order to terminate the bleeding, the conventional forceps is thereupon replaced by a bipolar coagulation forceps with conductors leading to the energy source. As a rule, the vessel begins to bleed again as soon as it is released by the standard forceps so that the wound is filled with blood before the surgeon can get hold of and apply the bipolar coagulation forceps. The same holds true for conventional surgical clamps which are often used to interrupt the bleeding of vessels prior to the application of a bipolar coagulation forceps.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,071,978 to White discloses a device which serves to remove hairs and wherein the rear ends of the legs of tweezers are connectable to electrical conductors. For this purpose, the rear ends of the legs are formed with eyelets for reception of pin-shaped plugs or terminals which are held in the respective eyelets by friction. A drawback of such proposal is that the insertion of plugs into the eyelets necessitates an interruption of the utilization of tweezers for their primary purpose as well as that the interruption is rather long-lasting which is evidently undesirable in general surgery or orthopedics.